Country Music Half Marathon

When I was pregnant, I decided I wanted to run another half marathon before Carson turned one. Probably a weird choice since I wasn’t doing anything remotely close to running at the time, but I told Nick anyway.

Carson turns one next Friday, so I barely made the cut, but this past weekend I ran the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville. I was barely doing any running when I signed up in January, so I was a little worried about building back up to 13.1 miles since I wasn’t even running 3. And since Tennessee decided to have a frigid winter this year, I was stuck on the treadmill, which I hate. However, once I’ve paid an entry fee, I am committed. I started running three days a week and building up very slowly. I got lucky and the weather started turning nice when I got into the really long runs-Hallelujah!

However, last weekend, I missed my long run of 11 miles because Carson had the stomach bug. On Thursday before the race, I had a migraine and missed a short run. As we were getting ready to leave on Friday for Nashville, we had to head to Children’s Hospital instead to take Carson to the ER (more on that later). I had to make it to Nashville by 7:00 to get my race bib so I could be allowed to run the race. We were very lucky and didn’t hit the downtown traffic that had everyone else tied up and I made it to the expo by 6:15. So, needless to say, I felt like I had already run a marathon at this point!

I met my cousin Stephanie and Aunt Della at the expo. Stephanie was running the race too-her first half! We ran the Susan G. Komen 5k together a few years ago in DC, so she has come such a long way. I’m so proud of people when they start running. 🙂

But I woke up on Saturday morning, headache free, and ready to run. The weather was a little chilly, but warmed up right before the race started. I went to the bathroom twice before the race, but by the time I waited around for 40 minutes for my corral to go, I had to tinkle again. I decided to go in a few miles, but I had such a good pace going that I never wanted to stop. I think having to pee makes me run faster because I ran at an average 9:40 pace. Maybe a new race strategy?

My knee started hurting around mile 4 and I thought it was going to be a long run, but it felt better around mile 6. I had heard the course was very hilly, but since I had built up these monstrous hills in my mind, I didn’t think it was too bad. Either that or it’s just much easier when you don’t have to push someone in a stroller! The course was pretty and I had several college memories when we passed a few downtown spots!

My Garmin kept beeping before I would hit the mile markers, so I knew I was running on the outside of the course. However, I talked to about 10 people after the race that clocked about 13.5-13.75 miles on their Garmins, so the course seemed a little long. I ran 14 miles according to mine when I crossed the finish line. They didn’t have a mile 12 marker up and since my Garmin was off, miles 11-13 seemed really long, but when I hit 13, I was pumped, especially when the course headed downhill to finish!

I crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 36 seconds! Overall, I was finished number 7,998 out of 19,103 runners and 778 out of 2121 runners in my division. In the female category, I was 4,182 out of 12,479.

I had two handsome boys waiting on me at the finish line! Carson was too fascinated by my headphones and medal to pay attention for a photo.

Nick’s sister, Jessica, came in from Denver to run the race. She also met Carson for the first time!

My only disappointment was not actually running onto the field at Titans stadium. You finish outside the stadium, which was a bummer. I really liked the course and plan on running again next year!